When athletes get paid huge sums of money to play their game, people pay attention. Money draws eyes to see if they’re worth it.
The other side of the coin is behavior beyond sports. Of course we love our heroes, but when they do more, when they move beyond the norm, their greatness multiplies.
It works the same way when they fail. The more spectacular, the better. And who ever forgets?
Two current problems are working their way toward conclusions following one bad choice after another.
1. Oregon Duck basketball.
2. Madras High School Track.
Neither passes the smell test.
Oregon Duck basketball fell victim to the old Watergate question: “Who knew, and when did they know it?”
So far consensus says too many decision makers knew too much and said too little.
On the face of it, what more can you say about a party night with three guys and one woman in college? The woman didn’t think it was much of a party.
The law didn’t clamp down on the three guys, but they ended up dismissed from Duck basketball and banned from the campus.
Is this fair treatment? In the world of high profile athletes mistreating women, from Kobe in Colorado to Ray Rice in an elevator, you’d think everyone might take a step back when faced with certain choices.
This comes from the You Gotta Know Better file: Yours truly was a scholarship athlete at a small college. Going to a party school meant parties. One night an older lady student and her friend were at a house party going full blast. On any campus, these ladies would stand out.
I’d met them before, but just to say hello. At this house party they were much more friendly. Have I seen the basement, they asked? Would I like to?
Once in the basement, we all looked around. Couches, low lights, and a locked door. I don’t know if the women were expert tour guides, or if this was a one time thing, but this freshman sized up the atmosphere and bolted.
One man, two women? I faked illness to make my run. The peer pressure said stay, but the fear pressure said go. Usually you don’t know what’ll play on your personal highlight film for life until it’s too late.
I had an idea then, I have an idea now.
The pressure on UO isn’t going away. How will recruiters explain the departure and campus ban of three basketball players? How will they comfort worried parents? They won’t. The brand needs to carry the message, not the recruiter.
In an unrelated instance, a high school coach visited jail and stayed. The charges? From OregonLive.com:
Melissa Bowerman was delivered from her home in Fossil to the Madras jail. Charges include:
- Sexual Abuse in the Second Degree (class C felony)
- Luring a Minor (class C felony)
- Online Sexual Corruption of a Child in the Second Degree (class C felony)
- Contributing to the Sexual Delinquency of a Minor (class A misdemeanor)
Can we agree sports and social life don’t mix when a woman in her forties, the wife of a man in his seventies, takes a seventeen year old guy from the track team she coaches to the prom? Then let’s also agree that a little ping pong and a few slow dances don’t add up to high crimes.
The story changes when the same coach goes to her next job and engages in similar activities, minus the formal wear.
Adults associating with minors in sports are role models. They show athletes how to break down walls of adversity to reach their potential. That’s not a green light to ignore the legal limits of normal society, regardless of desire.
If People Magazine’s Sexiest Man Alive showed up at a rural Oregon high school to coach anything, how many students and teachers and ladies in the community would line up for his autograph? Name recognition removes certain barriers, then it’s up to the individual to decide what’s best in the situation.
Being labeled a sex abuser for life is a badge no one wants to wear. Mrs. Bowerman failed as a coach, a teacher, and a wife. She’ll need to answer for that.
Back on the UO campus, where did Coach Dana Altman fail? Some writers say he failed to recognize his players’ problems during recruiting. Some say he should have known about the alleged sexual assault before he said he did. Worst of all is the guess that he knew his players were in trouble, but he needed them to play.
The state of Oregon has a college basketball coach and a high school track coach in hot water. How hot and how deep is the question. One may get fired while the other goes to prison, and that’s their win-win. That’s not coach-speak, that’s consequence-speak.
No one gets a free pass to lie or act out, no matter your place of employment or your last name. Coaches of all stripes need to win. Some break unwritten rules, others write their own rules.
Doing it the right way still sends a message we all need.
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